They say it's my birthday, and I'm gonna have a good time! Thanks to all my pals who are celebrating my big day - I sure don't feel nine years old!

This is probably going to be my last diary entry. It hurts really bad to even have to say that. Our family has been on Catster for 7+ years - in fact, our 8th anniversary will be a couple of weeks after Catster closes its doors.

In those 8 years we have met so many pawsome friends and shared great times and very sad times with them. It has made us closer because we all love each other. You can't find that kind of support and love just anywhere.

Newman told me that Calvin told him it is called the Catster magic. I'm not a magician, but I think the magic that has been part of this community for 10 years is something that can't be taken away.

Say Media might delete our pages, but that magic and those memories will live in our hearts forever. They can't destroy the magic!

We would love for a real magician to come in and sweep his magic wand across the community so that it stays forever. While we're hopeful, it is probably not going to happen.

So, we wish all good things to our cat and dog friends. We hope to stay in touch with you.

Gleek, Newman, and I are on Cat Scouts. We're also on Facebook (www.facebook/strickcats) so we hope to see you in one of those two places.

There are many cat parents over on Facebook, so if you're Mom/Dad are not there, please tell them that the community of friends over there is supportive and loving too - although they're not cats, so they don't take as many naps!

Our Mawmee is Laura Strickland, and she can be found on Facebook at facebook/catstermom. Yep, she is Catstermom, and she said that will never change.

I went to the vet place yesterday for my yearly visit. The first surprising thing I did was talk the entire way in the car! The Mom around here even said she thought Violet was in the car because he was the talker! She said I have a girly little meow.

I hope I'm not turning into a girl because besides my girly voice, I'm down 1 pound! I think I still have all my muscles, it was just fat I got rid of since we don't eat dry food any more! I'm 11 pounds now, and the vet lady said I was a good looking healthy cat!

She looked in my ears and checked out my toofies. She said my toofies looked good. I didn't need to go to the secret room in the back where they steal bodily fluids, so I just waited around until the vet tech gal gave me my rabies shot.

I was very quiet on the way home, and everycat sniffed me when I got out of the carrier!

We even had a credit on our account from when Samoa visited. They had charged us for pee wee check, but they didn't even get any pee wee from her. Luckily, the Mom around here looked at the bill and called them on it. They gave us a credit, so my appointment only cost $30.

The Mom and Dad around here went to Target yesterday. They were giving out small canvas bags for Earth Day (which is today). Everytime they bring that bag back to Target and use it, they get a 5% discount.

So, when they came home, the left the bag on the counter in the hallway. This morning around 4:30, the Dad around here heard some noise and he got up to check things out.

I was standing in the living room with the handle of the Target bag around my head and over one arm. He said it looked like I was a super hero wearing a cape!

The Mom around here wished he would have taken a picture before he took the bag off of me. He said I was just sitting there looking at him as if I was saying, how do you like my cape?

We have fun around this place in the middle of the night! Happy Earth Day!

There are 178 cats having a birthday today, and one of them is me! I'm eight. I'm the second oldest in the house. Samoa is the old lady around here but us boys only call her that under our breath or she might smack us!

I've gotten a lot of pawsome birthday wishes from my pals - thank you so much. I'm thinking we might all get a nice treat at lunch . . . . maybe some Tiki!

Eight rhymes with a lot of other words.

Eight is great,
so don't be late
to find your mate!
We can't date!
Do you know Tate?
We can't wait
for cake to ate! (I know it's supposed to be eat, but that doesn't rhyme!)

Yesterday was a good eatin' kind of day. We had a chicken party for Gleek's birthday, and twice we got Tiki mixed in with our boring Fancy Feast!

All that extra energy kind of got me in some trouble. The Mom around here heard a crash and it was coming from the Dad around here's office. She knew he was outside, so she ran down the hall to check it out.

I was on the floor and some magic had occurred in the room! A couple of folders and some newspaper clippings were on the floor and the trash can was knocked over.

I have no idea who did it, but now there is another new rule that no cat can be in the office unless the Dad around here is in there too. The Mom around here told the Dad around here that it was his fault for leaving the door open, so I dodged a bullet on that one!

Then later in the evening, the Mom around here got a pair of p.j.'s out of the dresser drawer. She accidentally left the drawer open. She went to brush her toofies, and when she came back in the bedroom, guess who was sleeping in the drawer?

She said it was the cutest thing she has ever seen . . . . well, at least for yesterday. We try to do cute stuff around here every day so that we don't get in too much trouble when we do bad stuff around here!

I told the Mom around here that we needed an open drawer policy so that I could sleep in there every night. She said she would miss our cuddle time in bed, so the drawer got closed!

We spent most of yesterday getting our Halloween on! The Mom around here says I have taken over Violet's job of being the best cat to photograph. I didn't hiss at the hat like Newman did! I didn't pretend to be asleep like Gleek. I did close my eyes a few times because you can't make it too easy for the photographer! She has to work for it if I'm going to be wearing a hat!

The first time she attempted to dress me up like a clown, she had the Dad around here helping. We don't like it when he helps, so she had to put Plan B into effect!

Samoa insisted on giving us our clown names. At first she wanted us boys to be The Three Stooges! She picked Binky the Clown for my name. He is the clown that played around with Garfield the cat!

Hey, guess what? It's my birthday! I almost forgot about it because I've never celebrated a birthday before. Some of my pals sent me rosettes and pmails this morning and that is how I found out!

Guess what was sitting on Beagle Dog Rock today? A coyote! He was looking over into our yard - probably wishing he could give me a birthday greeting up close and personal.

The Dad around here got a new chair last night. It is in the living room, and it is leather. We leave leather alone - can you believe that? We like our claws touching fabric or carpet. The Mom around here was dreading having our leather sofa out in the open for us cats because in Kentucky the sofa was in the downstairs part and only cats with no claws could visit the sofa.

But when we moved the sofa to Arizona, she thought it would end up in shreds. Gleek sits on it, and Samoa sits on top of it on a quilt. The rest of us don't really care about leather.

But just in case, the new chair spent the night in the guest room with the door shut. The Mom and Dad around here think Newman will try to get inside the chair because he likes to do that. He has already been under the chair and the Dad around here yelled at him.

When the Dad around here yells at us, it is like a big game. He comes running in and claps his hands and talks loud. We run like madcats when he does that, and then we come back for more - it is a fun game!

I might sit on the chair for my birthday when the Mom and Dad around here go for a walk later on. After all, I'm seven now, and I can be trusted!